To quote Penny Lane from Almost Famous,

It's all happening.

The last post I put up here was written, around 10 am, on zero sleep. After all the housemates and guests had left/passed out, I was left, as usual, alone--insomniac that I am. Instead of doing what I normally do when said situation arises every night (read a book or the internet until I get tired,) I decided to be productive and scour the internet for bluegrass videos and websites to learn as much as I could. I practiced (quietly) and watched bluegrass on my iPhone on the screened-in porch until the sun came up. I've always been a fan of the bluegrass, going back to childhood and later, especially, during my time spent at Emory & Henry College way down in the Appalachians of Southwestern Virginia. Now, bluegrass is a full on obsession.

Anyway, Sunday morning, no sleep: after I finished the previous post, I tooled around the house a bit, had coffee/breakfast with some of the house mates, and was thinking of actually sleeping when Jimmy called to say that the bi-monthly bluegrass jamboree was going on at Frying Pan Park. Jimmy said he would be there and that I should play too. I said of course, and immediately threw on another pot of coffee, which I gulped down before grabbing the Martin and heading for Frying Pan.

It was an amazingly gorgeous Sunday. For the 3 or so hours I played, I made my musical company with 4 other guitars, 2 stand-up basses, 4 banjos (including Jimmy's,) 1 mandolin, 2 fiddles, 1 dobro, and 1 bona fide gut bucket. Jimmy and I were the only ones under the age of 40, and it was a really cool feeling to see the supportive, encouraging, and appreciative looks on the faces of the older musicians around the circle. It's all about keeping the music alive. When the jam ended, I mingled with the others for a while, and ended up getting invited to a couple other jamborees in the area--Arlington, Round Hill, and Oakton--which I'm definitely going to attend.

That's about all for now, but before I go, a link and a youtube video playlist I just made:

Jimmy's myspace has a handful of his banjo tunes, one of which ("Yonder Stands Maggie") he recorded with Warren Underwood, the cool-as-hell 70-something banjo player I met at the jamboree. Jimmy insisted that the mp3s are all at least a year old, and don't reflect how good he actually can play now, but I still think they're pretty awesome.

And the video playlist I've prepared is my new bible of bluegrass guitar magic:
1.) Tony Rice - Church Street Blues
2.) Robert Bowlin - Maybelle
3.) Norman Blake - Nashville Blues
4.) Tommy Emmanuel - Guitar Boogie



Rawk!